


Hachiko

by orphan_account



Category: Karneval
Genre: Childlike!Nai, Gen, Oblivious/Unreliable Narrator, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 08:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3971071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gareki was sleeping. Nai waited for him to wake up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hachiko

He didn't understand. Gareki was acting weird. He had defeated the varuga and they had escaped a long time ago, but Gareki kept falling and was so slow. Red water – blood, he reminded himself – was seeping out of his body and he kept making those 'ugh'-noises he made when he was angry at Nai, but this time Gareki was saying it in another tone that made Nai feel very weird and scared.

Gareki fell again, but didn't stand up. Nai knelt next to him and shook his arm.

"Gareki," he said. "Gareki, come on. Yogi and Tsukumo are waiting for us."

Gareki looked up at him. His eyes looked weird, like he was sweating.

"Nai," he said, and his voice was whispering. Nai wondered why. Nobody was here to hear him, after all. "Go without me. I don't think I can... move... much longer."

"No way!" Nai yelled, grabbing Gareki's hand. "Gareki is my friend! I'm not leaving him!"

"Nai... please. I'm... tired. I'll sle...ep and come after... you in a... bit. 'Kay?"

Gareki's voice went softer and softer as he spoke. Nai didn't like it.

"If Gareki's going to sleep, then I'll wait here until he wakes up," Nai said, stubbornly folding his arms over his chest.

"Nai..." Gareki said with a very, very soft voice, before his eyes fluttered closed and he went very still. The hand in Nai's hand went limp, like there was no bone in it. Even his chest had stopped moving.

"Gareki?" Nai said. He poked Gareki's cheek. No reaction. Nai smiled. He had never seen Gareki sleep this deeply; he was always muttering or screaming or sometimes even crying and he always woke up at the exact moment Nai poked his cheek. Now Gareki was finally sleeping well, so Nai was happy. Maybe losing some blood was good for a human?

Nai sat up and waited for Gareki to wake up.

~

The sun was way lower on the horizon by now, and Nai's legs were beginning to hurt. He was hungry, too, and he wanted to get back to Yogi and Tsukumo so they could get back to the ship and he could see Karoku again. But he didn't want to wake Gareki up, because he was sleeping so well for the first time in forever.

So he waited.

~

It was getting dark now, and Nai was scared. He didn't hear any scary animals yet, but he wanted to get away and take Gareki with him to a safe hiding place.

He was cold too. He didn't have a coat, and when the sun disappeared, so did the warmth. He was shivering and his skin was getting those bumps Yogi told him people get when they're cold. Nai looked at Gareki. He looked whiter than normal. He must be cold too.

Nai touched Gareki's hand and quickly pulled away. Gareki was very gold and stiff. He needed to warm Gareki now!

He looked around for a blanket but didn't see anything. Nai vaguely remembered that humans were warm too. So he threw his arms around Gareki and snuggled close to him. Gareki was so stiff he wouldn't move, but Nai didn't mind much. Gareki was always stiff when Nai hugged him. So he simply wriggled himself under Gareki's arms and he immediately felt better, protected, as he always felt when Gareki was close.

Content, he pressed his head under Gareki's chin and hoped he would be warm soon.

~

The sun was back up and Gareki was still stiff and cold and sleeping. Nai was getting a bit scared now.

"Gareki?" he said, shaking Gareki's arm. "Gareki? It's time to wake up. Yogi and Tsukumo must be very worried now."

He kept shaking and trying to wake him up, but nothing seemed to work. Then, he started to cry.

~

Nai stopped crying when the sun was right above him. He was hungry and thirsty and filthy and tired and scared and he wanted Yogi and Tsukumo and Karoku and he wanted Gareki to wake up, but he stopped crying because Gareki hated it when he cried.

He snuggled closer to Gareki and hoped that he would wake up soon.

~

The sky was coloring orange when Yogi found him. Nai heard him yelling and felt lighter. Yogi had gone searching for him!

"Yogi!" Nai yelled, trying to untangle himself out of Gareki's grasp. He heard Yogi's footsteps coming closer until he saw his friend. Nai waved at him.

He managed to untangle himself and ran up to Yogi, hugging him while crying his name.

"Nai," Yogi hugged hack. "We were so worried when you and Gareki didn't come back. I'm so glad that you're okay."

"Gareki and I are fine," Nai chirped with a big grin on his face. "Gareki's really tired, though; he's been sleeping since yesterday. He's also really cold. Do you have a blanket, Yogi?"

Yogi looked away from him to Gareki. He went white. Suddenly, Nai held nothing but air and Yogi was next to Gareki. Yogi touched his face and murmured "Gareki..." and started to cry.

Nai didn't understand why Yogi was crying, so he knelt next to him and asked: "Why are you crying?"

And Yogi looked at him with tear-filled eyes and tackled him, only crying harder.

Nai didn't understand anything of what happened after that. He didn't understand why Tsukumo started crying too, he didn't understand why Hirato shook his head and put his cape over Gareki's head. Blankets weren't supposed to go over your head and he told them that but they ignored him. He also didn't understand why Hirato told Yogi to take him to the ship. He didn't want to go, he didn't want to leave Gareki behind, but he went anyway, because Yogi was still crying and he needed someone to cheer him up.

Before he knew it, they were back on the ship and Karoku was hugging him and murmuring "I'm sorry".

That's when it dawned Nai. He looked up at Karoku and said: "There is something wrong with Gareki, isn't there?"

And Yogi started crying again and Karoku looked at him sadly and said: "He's dead, Nai."

~

They burned Gareki's body and Nai screamed and cried at them to stop, because being burnt hurt and didn't they see that they were hurting Gareki?

They took him out of the room and told him for the fifteenth time that Gareki was gone but Nai knew they were lying because Gareki couldn't die. Gareki was good and strong and important to him, maybe even more important than Karoku and he always came back, and that's why he couldn't die. The others were lying. Gareki could come back at any moment.

So Nai sat on Gareki's bed and waited.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write this for so long. I like expirimenting with writing-styles, and Nai's innocent character was the perfect opportunity for me to do that. I always wondered how he would react in a situation like this, and I think I did a decent job at keeping him IC. The others, however... not so much, but I didn't think I screw them up too badly, since they were only cameos.
> 
> Now, I know that Nai knows what dead is and that he's aware of what injuries can do to humans (just look at that chapter when he pushes Karoku out of harm's way), but I think this is really how he would react if Gareki died. To me, it seems like Nai practically thinks that Gareki is a God; not exactly all powerful, but he believes he can overcome almost anything and looks up to him to an almost unhealthy level. This, coupled with shock, leaves me to believe that he would simply reject reality when Gareki would actually die.
> 
> Explaining the title: Hachiko is the name of a Japanese dog who daily waited for his owner at the station to pick him up from work. After an accident that resulted in the owner's death, Hachiko kept waiting at the station for years. I felt like the title was somewhat appropriate (and I'm bad with titles... sue me).


End file.
